Cash register and indicator



2Sheets-Sheet 1.

F. S. HUNT. CASH REGISTER AND INDICATOR.

(No Model.)

No. 472,123. Patented Apr. 5, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FERDINAND S. HUNT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CASH REGISTER AND INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,123, dated April 5,1892. Application filed March 2,1891. Serial No. 383,464- (No model.)

T to whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, FERDINAND S. HUNT, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCash-Registers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an apparatus designed for use in stores andother places where a large number of small sales are made and where itis desirable to have some check upon the honesty of employs.

In its general features the apparatus is well-known, consisting, as itdoes, of a receptacle for the money which is normally locked and can bereleased only by operating one of a series of keys, which operationautomatically displays a tablet in plain view of the purchaser or of anyother person near by, which tablet bears a figure or figures to indicatethe amount of the sale.

The apparatus also has a recording device automatically operated by themanipulation of the keys to make a permanent record of the amount of thesale where the same can be referred to by the owner.

The invention consists in certain improvements in the means forperforming these different functions, which willbe fully described belowand closely defined in the appended claims.

The preferred form in which I have e1nbodied my improvements isillustrated in the drawings by means of six figures, of which Figure 1is a front elevation; 2, a vertical section in line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig.3, adetail view of a metal ribbon, the use of which will appear below;Fig. 4, a section looking downward from line 4. 4 of Fig. 2; and Figs. 5and 6, sectional detail views.

The apparatus is shown as inclosed within and protected by an ornamentalcase A, having near the top a glass plate a and below the same a door a,provided with a look. In the lower part of the case a drawer B ismounted upon rollers b and when closed bears against a spring Z2,putting the same under sufficient tension to enable it to automaticallythrow out the drawer when the lat ter is released. The drawer is lockedby means of spring-bolts O at opposite ends of the case pivoted at thetop to levers D, fulcrumed upon pivots d rigid with the case. A seriesof sliding keys E are mounted in guides above the drawer and carry upontheir exposed ends buttons marked with different figures correspondingto the denominations of money or rather to the amounts thereof that arelikely to be received in payment for purchases. These sliding keys arenormally held outward by means of springs e,but may be pressed inwardagainst the tension of said springs. WVithin the case each key bears aprojecting pin or stud e, and two levers F are pivoted at the oppositeends of the case having armsf, adapted to engage with the levers D tooperate the sliding bolts, and other arms f, carrying between their freeends a bar or rod f extending from one end of the case to the other. Aplate g, also extending from end to end of the case, is pivoted to thelevers F, as seen in Fig. 5, in position to engage with the projectionse as the keys E are moved back and forth. This plate is placed in frontof the rod f so that as the keys are pressed inward and the projectionse strike it the long arms of the lever F will be pressed backward andthe spring-bolt released; but as the keys return under the push of thesprings e the plate 9 will merely swing away from the rod f 2 withoutmoving the levers F. One of the depending arms f of the latter alsocarries a striker f which when the lever has been forced back by theinward movement of one of the keys and then released is thrown by meansof a springf against a bell H, hung in a convenient position in thecase.

At the extreme inward end of the keys the latter bear blocks or studs I,and immediately above these blocks a series of rods J are pivoted at oneend to the case and at the other to vertically-sliding bars K, heldnormally in their lowest positions by means of springs 7c and pivoted atthe top to oscillating arms L, which carry at their free ends tablets Z,bearing numbers respectively corresponding to the keys with which thearms carrying these tablets are connected. hen one of the sliding bars Kis in its lowest position,the tablet upon the arm L, with which it isconnected, is held up where itcannot be seen through the glass front;but when one of the keys is pressed inward the block I upon said keythrows the bar R up and drops the tablet into view. A laterally-slidingbar M is mounted in rear of the bars K and in the path of the extendedends of the arms J. The upper corners of the latter are rounded off, asshown, so that as they are raised they will force the bar M backward andpass the same. The latter is, however, connected to the levers F bymeans of rods m, so that it is returned after the arm J has passed bythe spring f and blocks the return of the arm J, holding the tabletconnected with that particular arm in view until a key is again pushedinward and the bar M forced from underthe arm J by means of theconnecting-rods m.

The recording device consists of a plate N, secured within the casebeneath the door in the front thereof, bearing several series of numbersarranged in arithmetical progressions, as many series being employed asthere are keys in the machine and the common difference in each seriescorresponding to the figure upon one of the keys and the tablet whichsaid key exposes. A number of metal ribbons O are mounted upon pulleysP, so that each ribbon covers one series of numbers upon the plate N.These ribbons have slots 0 large enough to' expose a single number,there being enough slots so that one will always be over the plate N,andif to accomplish this more than one slot is n'ecessarythe slots shouldbe numbered. To prevent the ribbons from slipping upon the pulleys, Iprefer to either puncture or indent their edges and provide studs uponthe pulleys to engage with these holes or indentations. The pulleys areeach provided with a spring detent or pawl R,adaptcd to engage withteeth upon the periphery of said pulley and to hold the same in anyposition unless forced against its spring. Each one of the keys bears aspring-arm S, so located as to engage with the studs upon the pulleyPabove it just as the key reaches the inward limit of its traverse and toforce the pulley far enough to move the slot in the metal ribbonrunningthereon from the figure which it covers to the next higher numberof the series. When the key returns, the pawl R prevents the ribbon frombeing drawn back, and the spring S merely leaves the pulley.

In operation the ribbons are all set at the start, so that slot No. 1 ineach ribbon shows the zero-mark of the series beneath it. Then as thekey is operated from time to time said slot will show a number equal tothe product of the denomination of the key by the number of times it hasbeen operated. The slots are so arranged that as slot No. 1 leaves theseries slot No. '2 shows the first term thereof. Hence it, upon lookingat the register, any of the slots No. 2 are in sight the number seenthrough the same should be added to the last term of the series to getthe proper reading. It will be readily seen that any length of ribboncan be used, and hence that the capacity of the machine is unlimited.-

The aboveeonstruction makes an exceedingly simple, cheap, anddurablemachine and one easily manipulated and cared for by any personwho happens to have it in charge. It is not technically a self-addingmachine, yet it accomplishes the same result as far as the amountregistered by each key is concerned. At the same time there is nocomplicated and expensive mechanism for adding together the differentamounts, and hence the liability to get out of order is greatlydecreased.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a machineof the class described, the combination, with a plate N, having a numberof series of numbers arranged in arithmetical progressions markedthereon, of a series of ribbons having openings adapted. to expose oneor more of the numbers and provided with means whereby said ribbons maybe advanced automatically by the operation of the machine, substantiallyas described.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination, with the plateN, having the figures marked thereon, of the metal ribbons 0, havingopenings 0, the pulleys P, and the keys E, provided with suitabledevices for advancing the metal ribbons, substantially as described.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of the slidingkeys E, carrying the blocks I, the oscillating levers J, the verticalreciprocating rods K, pivoted thereto, the pivoted arms L, connectedwith the rods K at one end and bearing the tabletsl at the other,substantially as described.

4. In a machine of the class described, the combination of the drawer B,the bolt 0, the lever F, suitably connected with said bolt and havingthe swinging plate g thereon, adapted to swing freely in one direction,but to carry the lever with it in the other direction, and a key E,adapted to engage with said plate, substantially as described.

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination of the keys E,having the blocks e and I, the spring-bolt O, the lever F, suitablyconnected therewith and adapted to engage with the projections e, thearms J, the plate or bar M, the connecting-rods m, the rods K, andtablets operated thereby, substantially as described.

FERDINAND S. HUNT.

WVitnesses G. P. SMITH, (bus. 0. SHEavEY.

